A pick of 3 economical Speysides

I need opinions.
I'm looking at getting a whole bunch of Scotches that represent a particular region well, and i've pared it down to what's decently priced and available in Aus. These are:

Aberlour 10yo
Glenlivit 12yo
Glenfiddich 12yo

opinions are needed as to the most consistent and most representative of the archetypal Speyside Malt. I'm strictly limited to this price range, since i'm getting a bunch of other stuff on a shoestring uni student budget.

I need opinions.
I'm looking at getting a whole bunch of Scotches that represent a particular region well, and i've pared it down to what's decently priced and available in Aus. These are:

Aberlour 10yo
Glenlivit 12yo
Glenfiddich 12yo

opinions are needed as to the most consistent and most representative of the archetypal Speyside Malt. I'm strictly limited to this price range, since i'm getting a bunch of other stuff on a shoestring uni student budget.

although any other opinions would be welcome...

PD

I don't drink much Scotch, ok well none anymore, but when I did it was amost always the Fiddich 15 or the Livet 12. I found those two to be almost equals and very similar, I thought the Fiddich 12 lost something; therefore along the lines of your post seemed to lose some value that the Livet 12 had. Never had the Aberlour...

C

"everybody defamates from miles away
but face to face
they haven't got a thing to say"

It's really hard to pick a single malt that represents the diversity of the Speyside.

Of the 3, I'd probably choose the Aberlour 10 (Glevlivet 12 would be my 2nd choice).

I understand about having to live within budget limits (and not knowing availability or pricing in Australia), but Glenfarclas is only $6 more (here in the US) and I really think you get a lot of bang for those additional dollars.

If it is available, the Speyburn is actually a decent drinking value (its about $13 a bottle cheaper than the others here in the US).

Glenlivet is not the best Scotch out there, but it is always good, I always keep a bottle on hand, so soft and soothing. It's also fantastic for introducing people to Scotch, a wonderful started and it mixes into a great Hot Toddy, especially now that it's getting colder.

I voted "OTHER"...The new Lismore "single Malt" that is currently available everywhere is a Glenfarclas 5yo, a wonderful balance of sherry cask without covering up the distillery character kinda malt. Around 20 bucks...

I'm having a hard time with Mac 12 being on the list as an inexpensive pour.

Off topic, the new "blue Label" edition of Finlaggin at trader Joe's is a young Caol Ila, Islay malt. Again a great bargain, fewer than 20 bucks!

Maybe the best bang for the buck that I recently ran across was a cask strength, unchillfiltered 10yo edition of Ardbeg from an independent bottler called Ellenstown, 51 bucks...I dare you to find any edition of Ardbeg with a similar spec for anywhere near that price!

Among independents, Signatory Vintage Highland was for a while at least young Glenrothes whiskey, and pretty good single malt for $20 a bottle. The origins of their whiskey can change (the Signatory Vintage Islay used to be from Lagavulin; now it's from Laphroaig, which is a pretty big difference) but I've never heard that the Highland was from anywhere but Glenrothes.